Lipid-lowering treatment practice patterns in korea: comparison with the data obtained from the CEPHEUS Pan-Asian...

The Pan-Asian CEPHEUS study assessed low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal attainment among patients under lipid-lowering therapy. We compared Korean and other Asian data in order to investigate international variations in clinical practice in the field of cardiology.

Hypercholesterolemic patients ≥18 years of age who had been on lipid-lowering treatment for ≥3 months were recruited from eight Asian countries. The lipid concentrations were measured, and demographic and other relevant data were collected. In addition, the cardiovascular risk was determined using criteria established in the updated 2004 NCEP guidelines.

In Korea, 92 cardiologists enrolled 1,584 patients. The data of these patients were compared with those for 2,060 patients enrolled by 135 cardiologists from other Asian countries in the CEPHEUS study. The proportion of high-risk patients, frequency of use of more potent LDL-C-lowering regimens and rate of LDL-C goal attainment were significantly greater in the Korean subjects than those observed in the other Asian populations. In addition, the Korean patients were more likely to achieve the LDL-C target (odds ratio=1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.11-1.70) after adjusting for the LDL-C target level, use of potent LDL-C-lowering regimens, the baseline LDL-C level, age and systolic blood pressure.

There was a significant difference in the goal attainment rate between Korea and the other Asian countries. Korean cardiologists appear to be relatively more aggressive with lipid-lowering treatment than other Asian cardiologists.